R2-D2
R2-D2 is a PC played by Pete. An astromech droid, R2 believes that droids are superior to all fleshlike creatures, including humans. R2 has 2 contradictory desires: to gain control of the most powerful weapons in the Galaxy, and to triumph against impossible odds. The Phantasmal Malevolence R2 was onboard the royal barge when it was commandeered by Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, Jar-Jar Binks, Queen Amidala and the queen's entourage (including Panaka, Ric Olie, and the Queen's handmaidens. The people on the barge were trying to fly past the Trade Federation's blockade of the planet Naboo to get to the planet Coruscant. As the royal barge tried to fly through the Federation blockade, the Feds opened fire on the ship, severely damaging it's shield generator. One more hit would've been enough to destroy the ship. R2-D2 volunteered to go out on the hull to fix the damage. There were a few other astromech droids on the hull working on it, but they were blasted away by the Feds firing on them. Artoo wass able to fix the generator, restoring the shields, and the ship was able to fly through the blockade to safety. Ric Olie reproted the ship was 23% damaged, but should be able to make it to Coruscant. Obi-Wan thought they should stop at the nearest planet for repairs. Qui-Gon agreed, and also wanted to add weapons to the ship, in case the Feds pursued. They headed to the nearest planet, Tatooine, a desert wasteland ruled by gangsters. The Queen sent for Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, and R2 to thnak them for saving the ship. Obi-Wan tried to talk her into landing on Tatooine. The Queen allowed them one day on Tatooine to get the repairs and weapons they wanted. R2 demanded, in exchange for saving the ship, that the Queen have her most beutiful handmaiden polish him. The Queen acceeded to Artoo's request by sending him her handmaiden, Padme. When the ship landed outside a major city on Tatooine, Obi-Wan decided to stay on the ship feeling the need to proctect the Queen from any encounter they might have with sand creatures. As Qui-Gon, Jar-Jar, and Artoo left the ship, Panaka told them the Queen had ordered them to take Padme with them to learn more about the planet. When they entered the city, Qui-Gon started randomly asking people about where to find weapons and the Lost Orb, while Jar-Jar asked Padme if she's ever met Palpatine. She admited she had. Jar-Jar asked her if Palpatine has ever mentioned the Orb to her. Padme replied, yes, that Palpatine thought the Feds had stolen it. Qui-Gon finally found a repair shop. They entered the shop and met the owner,Watto, a small blue creature with wings and a snout for a nose. As Qui-Gon tried to specify what they wanted from Watto, the shopkeeper's assistant walked in, a boy named Anakin. Qui-Gon tried to trade the blasters he collected from the Attack Droids for the weapons and repairs they wanted, but Watto replied the blasters weren't worth as much as the new weapons he'd be making for the ship. Qui-Gon tried to use Suggestion on Watto to accept one blaster for the repairs and weapons, but it doesn't work on Watto's species. Watto asked if Qui-Gon was a Jedi, since there's a rich bounty to be had on Tatooine for capturing Jedi. R2 advised Qui-Gon that he should just attack Watto. Qui-Gon decided not to attack Watto, and that he and the others should just leave. Qui-Gon, Jar-Jar, R2, and Padme were walking through a marketplace. Jar-Jar was feeling hungry, and snagged a frog he saw hung up at a food stall. When the Alien Food Stall Owner objected, Jar-Jar spat out the frog in his mouth, which landed into Sebulba's stew. Sebulba was so enraged by this that he grabbed Jar-Jar by the throat. At that moment, Anakin showed up and calmed down Sebulba, by speaking to him in an alien language. Suddenly, a huge sandstorm arose near the Queen's ship and headed towards the city. Anakin took Qui-Gon, Jar-Jar, R2, and Padme to his home, sheltering them from the storm. Anakin introduced them all to his mother, Shmi, who like Anakin is also a slave of Watto's. Anakin showed Padme and R2 something he created, a translator droid, C-3PO. R2 took this opportunity to have Threepio translate a long, angry rant on how he's been wasted stuck on a planet full of sand. Padme decided it might be best if they didn't have a translator droid with them, and Anakin agreed. Shmi had them all seated at the dinner table for supper. She asked about the Jedi Knights, and learned they use the power of the Force, which is generated by midi-chlorians. Qui-Gon explained that midi-chlorians are mircoscopic organisms that exist in all living cells. Qui-Gon became fixated on getting money to buy enough blasters to trade for the weapons. Jar-Jar pointed out that all they really needed was the money to pay for the weapons. Qui-Gon speculated on whether he could turn himself in to collect the bounty on Jedi, but Jar-Jar pointed out that was impossible. When Shmi offhandedly mentioned gambling, Qui-Gon decided they needed to find somehting to gamble on. Anakin pointed out that there's pod-racing, and that their master Watto was havomg Anakin fix a pod he was going to race in. Shmi told them that the pods they race in were incredibly dangerous with no safety gear. Jar-Jar pointed out how Watto wouldn't need them because he could always fly away from any crash. This got Qui-gon thinking. Qui-Gon approached Watto and offered him a blaster to throw the pod-race. Watto refused. They haggled briefly over the price untill Qui-Gon offered the ship to Watto, and Watto agreed. Qui-Gon contacted Obi-Wan and explained his plan. Since Watto was now going to throw the race, betting on his opponent would be the sure thing. So they bet a lot of money and win enough to buy the weapons. Obi-Wan pointed out that there would be more than two racers, so the only sure thing would be knowing that one wouldn't win, they'd need to bet on all the other racers to collect enough money to buy the weapons that were supposed to equip the ship Qui-Gon had just given away, and that they didn't even have any money to bet with anywy. Shmi pointed out that what they needed to do was bet on the winner. Qui-Gon suggested that Ric Olie pilot Watto's pod, but Shmi pointed out that the pod was built for Watto's small size. R2-D2 eagerly pointed out that he was small enough to fit inside and race it. While Anakin was going over the pod, Jar-Jar noticed that there was a spanner stuck in the pod's engine. With Padme's help, he was able to remove the spanner before it could do any damage. Suddenly, Obi-Wan remembered that Anakin had mentioned the pod has handlebars and pointed out that that means that R2 wouldn't be able to steer it. Qui-Gon noticed that Anakin was small enough to pilot the pod, and decided he should pilot it. To make sure Anakin woul win, he transfused his blood into Anakin, giving Anakin Qui-Gon's midi-chlorians so he'd have the Force Sensitivity he'd need to win the race. The next morning, Qui-Gon approached Watto about not even entering in the race. He offered Watto a bet on a die roll. If Qui-Gon won, Watto wouldn't race. If Watto won the roll, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan become his slaves. Watto rolled the die and won. But Qui-Gon used Fate Manipulation to reroll the die so that Qui-gon won. Watto agreed not to enter the race. Qui-Gon made a further bet with Watto: if Anakin wins the race, Watto frees Shmi. If Anakin loses, Queen Amidala would become Watto's slave. Watto accepted. Qui-Gon asked R2 how much money they'd need to bet on Anakin to win enough to pay for the weapons. R2 told him how much, using C-3PO as a translator. Qui-Gon left the others for a little while, then came back claiming he'd just pulled off his best plan yet. As Anakin and the other racers prepated to get into their pods, one of them, Sebulba did something sneaky with Anakin's pod before he got into it. As the race was about to begin, Qui-Gon began to explain his plan to the others. He sold all his blasters to some people to raise the money to bet on Anakin, and to stack the odds in Anakin's favor, have those people use the blasters to fire on the other racers. To ensure their cooperation, he offered to lead them to a Jedi after the race so that they can collect the bounty on him (since Qui-Gon was planning on leaving after the race, he didn't think this would be a problem). After the race started, and Anakin took off (after a near-fatal false start), Shmi to asked Jim what kind of people he made the deal with. He answered vaguely that they were some "sand...people". Jar-Jar asked how these Sand People were going to know which racres to fire at. Qui-Gon explained that he showed them a picture of Watto and told them to fire at every racer who didn't look like Watto. At that moment, the Sand People began to fire at Anakin's pod (since, of course, Anakin didn't look like Watto).